Boston.com Relaunches Site with New Design, Integrates Video from New England Cable News across Site

The new site features a streamlined homepage and site design that showcases Boston.com's breaking news and vertical sections. As the Web site for The Boston Globe, Boston.com prominently integrates Globe content on the homepage and throughout the site. Other new features on Boston.com include:

-- The integration of new advertising positions such as the large homepage ad, the leaderboard ad at the top of article pages, and the half-page ad

-- A new classifieds module on the homepage that rotates different auto and real estate listings and job postings from BostonWorks.com

-- A 'friendlier' horizontal global navigation system that replaces the left-hand list of sections

-- A flexible homepage design that allows for content and promotions by daypart, such as movies reviews and slideshows on Friday afternoons

-- A new section "Your Life," that focuses on family, relationships, fashion, home improvement, fitness and health.

The redesign also introduces a co-branded section devoted to news and video from NECN. As part of an extended partnership, Boston.com will host NECN's Web site at www.boston.com/necn and video from NECN will be widely integrated throughout Boston.com.

"Now Bostonians can start their day with The Boston Globe, follow the important stories throughout the day on Boston.com and get the complete visual picture thanks to robust video footage from NECN," said Phil Balboni, president and founder of New England Cable News. "We're thrilled to expand on the close relationship NECN has had with The Globe since 1994, when we established multiple daily live interviews from the paper's newsroom."

"As more and more of our users access Boston.com via broadband, it is essential that we offer them a more dynamic content experience," said Lisa DeSisto, vice president and general manager of Boston.com. "With NECN's video integrated throughout Boston.com, our users now enjoy an even richer, multi-dimensional news experience. Our depth of local news coverage online is unmatched."

Simultaneous with the Boston.com redesign was the implementation of a new content management system built using the Zope4Media open-source solution from Zope Corporation. The open-source platform will enable Boston.com's producers to integrate static and dynamic content from many different sources, test interactive tools, and roll out new section designs.

About Boston.com

Boston.com is one of the most visited regional portals in the U.S. and is part of New York Times Digital, the digital business unit of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT). The mission of NYTD, which also comprises market leader NYTimes.com and an archive distribution business, is to provide a high-quality, worldwide online audience with trusted editorial content from The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

About New England Cable News

NECN is a partnership between The Hearst Corporation and Comcast Corporation and serves more than 2.6 million cable subscribers in 855 communities throughout New England. NECN provides news, weather and sports, and other targeted programming to viewers 24-hours a day.

Targeted programs include NewsNight, New England Business Day, TV Diner with Billy Costa, New England Dream House, Sports LateNight, and CEO Corner.